Slab shingle



J. C. WHITMORE SLAB SHINGLE Nav.. 24, 1925. 1,563,131

Filed Feb. i6. 1923 Patented Nov. 24, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN C. 'WHITMORE 0F PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA.

SLAB SHINGLE.

4Application filed February 16, 1923. Serial No. 619,382.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN C. WHITMORE, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Petersburg, in the county of :Dinwiddie andState of Yirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Slab Shingles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to shingle structure for roofs in which a composition piece is used, which is longer than the width of a normal sized shingle, and which is so cut as to representa number of shingles llaidV vside by side in a course.

The main objection to the use `of shingle strips of this character, vand indeed to all composition or prepared roofings, is that they present a flat, unshaded appearance on the roof. It is sought to get away from Vthis appearance by means o printing on the strips, or by special overlapping and interlocking designs.

Another defect ina good deal of prepared iroofings, is that when made Aof light felts without excessive saturation and coating, so that they/can be sold 'for a low price, they will curl, after exposure to the weather, or will blow up, due to their flexible'nature.

It is the object of my invention to provide astri'p shingle which is of fairly light material, butwhich is so arranged and reinforced that it cannot curl.V It is also my object to provide for a greater thickness of the shingle strip at the exposedr portion or butt, than at the underlying or lapped portion, thereby giving a prominence to the exposed edges ofthe shingle simulating tabs thereof. w

More particularly, it is my-object to form a strip shingle to imitate' individual shingles, in which the body is bent under and is slotted through the double thickness so formed, with thel slot terminating short of the edge of the' doubled under portion. This gives prominence to the effect of the roofing, as will be noted, provides a damagainst Water leakage, provides a strong butt and also provides a line of foldinto which may be run' a ymetal tape,lwire or the llke for re-iiiforcing and edge thickening purposes. Y

I am aware that' others have bent under the edges of the tabs in roofing of the same general character as mine, but inall cases with which I am familiar, the'turned under portion is veryv slight and does not extend to the full depth ofthe tab and thus fails to supply the advantages which I gain with my invention. Y I accomplish the various objects of my invention by that certain construction and forming notches,

arrangement of parts to be hereinafter more A.:

specilically pointed out and claimed.V y

In the drawings: Figure l is a perspective view of a roof showing my' device applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a detail plan of a piece of saturated felt roofing, showing lines of fold thereon.

Figure 3 is a like .view showing the metal bands inserted and the folds turned under. Figure 4 is a like view showin the notches cut out at one side ofthe oubleY piece shown in Figure 3, this view being on a larger scale.

Figure 5 isv a lengthwise section taken through one of the strips, as s hownin Figure 4..

Figure G/is a diagrammatic section taken through a roof `showing three'of the strips, as laid, with the center one sectioned and the two others plain for purposes of clearnesis. This view shows curves in the'strips which will not be present dueto their stift'- ness, but seemed the easiest and clearestway to bring out the point.

In the manufacture of my devices I pref- 4 erably proceedv inthe following manner .A double width strip of felt roofing l isA suitably treated andis then scored along thesides with lines 2, 2, to define. a line of fold (Fig. 2) .t The strip passes along in the roofing-machine, and has superimposed along .the lines of vfold on both sides a strip or metal 3, which may be a wire or a true strip, as desired.` The vroong strip then passes through a folder, in which suitable deflectors and then al pair of rolls cause the edges 4 of the strip to be folded under. This operation which will preferably be done while the saturating material is still hot in the feltv piece, will result inthe turned under fold being cemented to the bodyof the piece.

After this operation the piece is passed through a slotter, which cuts a series of transverse, interspaced, closed endv slots or notches 5 into the felt at the edges of the piece. A slitter then cuts the piece down the middle alongtheline 6, and a chopper cuts the individual pieces into sections suitable by the dam formed by the intact inner edge.

of the underfold.

As dimensions for a strip of the above character, I give the following, which it will be understood are illustrative of one form only lof the invention, but of' a form which I have found desirable;

T find that the ultimate pieces may be 32 inches long, slots or notches one half inch on each end of the piece, and one inch across between the tabs. The' slots will be five inches deep, and the underfold six inches deep. The tabs will be nine and two thirds inches across.

The above specifications will serve for a three tab strip, and for a four tab or two tab will follow except for overall length of the piece.

have not attempted to describe methods of making odd shapes, such las half hexagon tabs` or chamfered edge tabs, as the process will be about7 the same excepting for the shape of the cutouts, or notches.

lf a wide piece of felt is to be used it may be i'irst slit lengthwise into double width sections and then passed through the forming and cutting process above detailed.

Tn laying the strip of the dimensions above set forth (F ig. 6) the result will be that the strips when laid on the roof so that the free edges o-f the tabs of one course, come to a line even with the inner ends of the notches of the precedingcourse, will give a very shadowed appearance. l -haveJ by letters indicated the points of thickness of coverage for a typical strip. Thus at A there willybe five thicknesses, at B four, at C three, at D two, and at E one.. thickness between the top of each strip and the roofing boards F.' .v y 4 One advantage of my roof is thus that each slab considered transversely `of its length is of a wedge shape tapering from one thickness of felt, to five thicknesses at the exposed, shadow throwing edge, and the walls of the notches, are of two thicknesses,

pensig, taper cut slates, and wooden shingles, and in addition the piece has flexibility,

is made out of inexpensive material, and

can beshipped without danger of breakage In nailing down my strip the nail will be inserted just behind each slot, as indicated at G in Fig. l, this nail passing through the underfold, and also the top of the shingle. The effect of this is to hold the underpiece fast to the roof, and if expansion or contraction takes place the underpiece will hold the top piece fiat down on the roof, counteractingv the effect of turning up during contraction and turning down during expansion. The chief cause of curling of composition shingles of the type dealt with herein, is that the coating and saturating material dries out in part, thereby causing shrinkage. When the underfold shrinks as well as the top of the shingle, this will hold down the free edge of the tab that shrinks. AThe metal strip in the end of the shingle tabs acts to prevent lateral curling, to reinforce the edge of thetab, to give an extra thickness and rounded appearance at the edge, and also to permit the tabs .to be bent into a permanent curve around cupolas, as indicated in Figure 1, in the roof section H.

Due to the fact that my shingle can be made of ya light weight felt, it will notfbe much more expensive than strip shingles which do not give anywhere near the striking and satisfactory appearance on the roof.

Each nail in the roof will hold down the double thickness of the strip in which it is placed, and also one thickness of the strip beneath it. rThis makes for great security against tearing out of the nails, and gives a firm mounting for each piece.

Thus while lmy strip gives a true wedge shape, which is not possible in strips in which only an inch or so is turned under, it also has much greater strength, and is very strong at the exposed edge. In lire risk, also my strip has great advantages. The folded edges which are exposed are fully treated with such coatings as are used, and the 'law felt is not exposed at these edges at a Having thus described my invention, what ft-claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. As an article of manufacture, a strip shingle comprising an integral piece of prepared roofing material folded intermediate the longitudinal edges thereof to provide a double thickness of material, said double thickness of material havingslots extending from the folded edge at right angles thereto to form a series of spaced rectangular tabs of double thickness, said strip i se 1,563,131 l p I;4

khingle having a relatively wide-continuous ieee of a single thickness joining the 11per portions ofsaid tabs, and a relatively arrow continuous piece joining the under u ortions of said tabs and lying above the inner ends of the slots whereby said continuous irrow piece is disposed so as to receive the nails in the laying of the strip shingle, and to maintain the lower portions of the tabs in register with and inproper spaced relation to the upper tabs, said under portion of said strip shingle being of considerably less length than' the upper or main portion thereof and terminating ash0rt distance above the ends of said slots, whereby when said strip shingles are laid with thelower folded edges of the tabs at the upper ends of tlev slots in the strip below, the exposed portions of the tabs will be-of greater thickness than the underlying portion lapped b the -neXt succeeding stripv shingle, there y giving prominence to the'exposed edges of the tabs.

2. A strip shingle formed with a. continuous body portion' and a series of intervspaced tabs along one side thereof, with the JOHN c. WHITMORE 

